Work In Progress

I started The Butterfly Blogs - which was a lifestyle blog that focused on self-help, community service, and activism - on February 9th, 2021.

For the previous 5 years, I’ve shared vulnerable pieces about what I’ve learned in life. I’ve also served along with several other community advocates in my area. I’ve done some of everything from community cleanups to voter registration to now pollinator conservation. I’ve utilized many avenues to accomplish the same mission: doing my small part to push for change in my community.

My first blog ever was called Becoming. I didn't 100% know what The Butterfly Blogs would turn into, I was just yielded to the process and full of faith and raw energy. Nothing brings me more joy than sharing what I know, so this blog became my outlet for that. What I didn’t fully realize then was that becoming is an undoing. It’s reshaping. It’s adding AND subtracting. And it’s…uncomfortable. 5 years later, I am still becoming. I don’t think the becoming ever ends.

I’m a beginner at sewing now, since we’ve last chatted. I tend to pick up hobbies like Infinity Stones. My niche in the craft world seems to be mixing styles between crochet, knitting, sewing, embroidery, etc. Whenever I finish a project, I always leave some wiggle room between the thread and the fabric just in case I have to go back in and cut something to do a repair. I mess up a lot as a newbie, but I'm committed to that final work of art being the best it can possibly be. I never want to harm the overall project when I go to do an edit, so I leave some flexibility in case I have to add length or take something in later on.

Me & the greatest Christmas Gift ever.

A lot of times, as I work for hours in a quiet, dark room, I ponder. And that day that I went to redo work I had already done, I imagined that's this is how God works our hearts. He knows we won’t be a finished work until he calls us home. Until then, we have to be pliable. We must be able to take cuts and take on new things as needed. We have to have the ability to adjust and be remade and altered. What's part of us today may not be tomorrow. It’s a process. Editing is never to harm our body of work, our being, but instead to perfect it through different processes.

“Right side” of tapestry crochet piece.

“Wrong side” of tapestry crochet piece.

We just have to yield to the process.

And yielding means accepting also accepting detours, pit stops, and unexpected journeys.

Go down at once to the potter’s house; there I will reveal my words to you.” So, I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel.  But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter’s hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do. -‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭18‬:‭2‬-‭4‬ ‭CSB‬‬

When I started as a blogger, I thought that was it. "Jas from the Lab" did not exist until years later. Juggling both was difficult, and I thought I even had to choose. And I did...but I also didn't? I agree that there is something to be said about not taking on too much and staying within your capacity, but it wasn't until I did my own internal work and realized how much and how many of the great gifts God gave me that I just suppressed altogether. In the same way that I mix styles in my artwork, I believed I could do the same in real life.

Drawing of mine titled “Silent Flight” featuring charcoal, pen & ink, graphite, & markers.

In deep reflection, I realized that I allowed myself to shrink for years. Before I was a writer, before I was a scientist, I was an artist. That was the original thing. That was the same creativity that allowed my mind to go places before my feet had the opportunities to. It was art that first made dreaming even possible; it was the original safe place. This journey back to being an artist and not choosing one hat to wear has been more spiritual than physical. For years I ran from a calling and hid in the shadows. I listened to external voices on who and what I should be.

I have to stop myself from feeling it was time wasted, because it wasn't in vain. In all my years of working behind the scenes, I developed my skills. When my vision didn't completely make sense, I still stuck with it and kept it in my back pocket until it did. Many of the same skills I have learned through the years of trial and error keep me going today. Every lesson and blessing got me here, even if I'm still a work in progress.

I want to encourage someone today that it’s okay to not have it all figured out. It wouldn't be a journey if you did. Nothing is for waste, even the mistakes. It's within failure that you learn. It's within failure that you really see what you're capable of under fire. It’s okay to go back to the drawing board. Editing is all a part of the process, don’t ask me how I know. Some of my most beautiful art pieces have mistakes. That’s what makes their stories so great.

“The Lord looks down from heaven; he observes everyone.  He forms the hearts of them all; he considers all their works.” -‭‭Psalms‬ ‭33‬:‭13‬, ‭15‬ ‭CSB‬‬

The Butterfly Blogs

February 9th, 2021 - February 9th, 2026

Cheers to happy endings, and new beginnings.

Welcome to the official home of Jas from the Lab.